COMPLETE SUMMARY:

Beca Robicheaux is a quiet, reserved yet very headstrong, outspoken & determined girl that spends her free time reading books in the garden, sitting in amongst the strong branches of her favorite oak, riding her horse Whiskey or strumming her guitar down by the creek. She dreams of one day being on Broadway and living a life far away from the confines of her lavish upbringing. Unfortunately, her parents have other ideas.

On her 18th birthday, Tripp Robicheaux is taxed with the task of informing his headstrong daughter that she has been promised to Luke Babineaux, resident bad boy and the son of local multimillionaire, Eli Babineaux. What will Tripp do when he finds out that another Southern gentleman has caught the eye of his eldest daughter


A/N #1: (More of a Dedication than an Author's Note)

Dearest cuticlecareenetwork,

Well chickadee, You challenged me to write something "Lush and Southern" … well, challenge accepted! Here it is...FINALLY! Without you this story never would have come to fruition and may never have been posted either. Without you, none of this would have happened. THANK YOU for all your help, for pulling my head out of my ass and telling there was no reason in the world to doubt myself. THANK YOU for encouraging me to reach deep within myself and my roots to create this little piece of FanFiction but most of all, THANK YOU for believing in me, my abilities and this story. There's something special in here just for you…you'll know it when you see it! I hope you love it as much as I do!

YOU ARE THE BEST! XOXO


A/N #2

Beca plays the guitar and writes music as an escape. I'll be referring to songs made famous by multiple artists, but for the sake of the story Beca will "write" the songs herself. When songs are mentioned, I'll try to remember to make an A/N at the end of the chapter for you to reference.

I hope y'all enjoy this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.


Last names used in this story and their pronunciations:

Robicheaux (Row-buh-show)

Delacroix (deh-lah-krwah)

Babineaux (bab-bin-no)

Toussaint (two-sant) the 2nd 'T' is silent

Comeaux (co-mo)


Beca Robicheaux is the daughter of a well to do Southern aristocrat. She lives with her father Tripp, her mother Lucy, and her 15 year old sister Raelyn (Rae) on a sprawling 500 acre plantation in southern Louisiana. The plantation and grounds have been in their family for hundreds of years and at one time was best known for being the highest producing cotton farm in Louisiana history.

At 18 years old, Beca wants nothing to do with the lavish lifestyle she was born into. Her snarky sarcasm and wit don't come anywhere near close to Southern etiquette nor are they appreciated and quite frankly, they make her parents crazy. She just wants to know what 'normal' is like.

While her parents are her parents and there is clearly nothing she can do about it she is closest to her Nanny, Nora Toussaint and her 19 year old son Jesse. Nora has taken care of Beca and her younger sister Rae since they were infants. When she and Rae came of school age, Nora began to home school them and her own two boys, Jesse and Jamie.

Nora taught the four all the basics and then some but she also taught them to sing, dance and play the piano. She made school fun and memorable. The most important thing she taught them was to always be themselves and never change for anyone or anything. That lesson really struck a chord with Beca. Since graduating, Beca has continued taking music and voice lessons with Nora. She has also taken up song writing and taught herself to play guitar which she does surprisingly well.

When she was a little girl she told anyone who would listen that she was going to New York City to be a Radio City Rockette. Failing to grow past 5'2", she realized that being a Rockette just wasn't in the cards, especially since most if not all of the Rockettes have legs longer than Beca is tall. So Beca decided Broadway was the way to go, she felt she was more suited for it anyway. She told her mother she was going to be a Broadway baby though her mother knew things that hadn't been shared with her up to this point. Lucy knew Beca would be crushed to find out that she was destined to stay in small town Louisiana and become a housewife and mother just as she had. She was looking forward to Beca's birthday but she was extremely apprehensive about it as well.


On her 18 birthday, Beca woke up earlier than usual and promptly made herself scarce. The house was already overrun with wait staff, caterers, people setting up tables, chairs and a dance floor in the backyard. She wanted nothing to do with decorations, food, floral arrangements, twinkle lights or anything else for that matter. She wanted a tank top, a pair of tight booty shorts and her cowboy boots.

Her mother was literally making herself sick running around to make sure everything was perfect; after all, it's not every day your eldest daughter turns 18. Beca was sick to death of dress fittings and color schemes and she absolutely hated the dress that her mother selected and purchased for her. She wasn't in to all of this frufru crap, just slap a piece of cake on a plate and call it a day.


Sliding out the back door unnoticed she went straight to the stables. Jesse, in all of his shirtless glory, was already mucking stalls. "Damn!" she thought, "Why does he have to be so fucking beautiful?"

"Mornin' cowboy…want some help?" she said setting her guitar down right outside the stable doors.

"Mornin'… you know your dad would kill you if he found out you mucked stalls." He said trying not to look at the bare skin between the bottom of those fantastic shorts and the top of her boots. "DAMNIT! This girl is going to be the death of me! Does she really have to wear those barely there booty shorts?!"

Grabbing the spare shovel, Beca took the stall next to the one Jesse was mucking. "Do I look like I care?"

"Well…no, but your dad…"

"My dad isn't here...is he?"

"You little rebel." He said with a wink.

"Yeah…and don't you forget it mister!"

She threw her hair up into a messy pony tail then tied her tank top into a knot just beneath her breasts and got to work. His eyes ran over the milky white skin of her abdomen. Her abs and arms were very well defined, yet they were still feminine and oh so sexy.

She quickly got to work and they fell into easy conversation. Beca carefully steered the conversation away from the events currently taking place at the main house. She came to the stables to escape it all; she damn sure didn't want to talk about it.

After they mucked the stalls, they fed and bathed the horses before she volunteered to help him with the hay delivery. Jesse insisted that he could do it even though he secretly wanted her help and hoped she'd stay. He enjoyed spending time with her and he sure as shit didn't mind the view. She could throw bales of hay around just as well if not better than he did. With her help, they were able to get a lot accomplished in a short amount of time.

When they were finished, Jesse handed her a bottle of ice water. He watched as she leaned against the door frame and took a long sip before pouring water over her chest and rubbing it around her neck. Trying desperately to ignore the sudden tightness in his jeans, he wondered if she knew how much of a turn on that was. Or did she actually know and she was just trying to tease him. Didn't matter, all he knew for certain was that he wanted to lick the water from between her ample breasts.

"Ok, well…thanks for the water. I'll get out of your hair now." She said as she started to walk away. She wanted more than to be just in his hair; she wanted to be in his bed.

"Thanks for the help."

"Sure…anytime. See you around." She said walking out of the stable and picking up her guitar.

"Mmm..." he thought as that tight little ass of hers and those tiny little shorts captured his attention. He watched her until she was out of sight.


Throwing her guitar over her shoulder so that the guitar hung behind her, she climbed one of her favorite oaks. When she was settled on the branch, she pulled a small notebook and pen from her back pocket then started strumming, stopping only to make notes in her notebook.

Her thoughts drifted back to Jesse as she hummed along with the chords she was playing. How could she be in love with him when their friendship never crossed the lines of friendship? Just being with him, near him made her heart race.

"Beca!" she heard Nora calling her. "Beca, dear… where are you?"

Climbing down the tree, she said, "I'm here."

"Hey pretty girl…it's time for you to start getting ready for your party."

"Ugh…do I have to?" she pouted.

"I'm afraid so darlin'."

"Ok…let's get this dog and pony show on the road then." She said hanging her head and walking side by side with Nora.